Student Aid Administration

Student Aid Administration For Federal administrative expenses to carry out part D of title I, and subparts 1, 3, 9, and 10 of part A, and parts B, C, D, and E of title IV of the HEA, and subpart 1 of part A of title VII of the Public Health Service Act, $2,033,943,000, to remain available through September 30, 2024: Provided, That the Secretary shall allocate new student loan borrower accounts to eligible student loan servicers on the basis of their past performance compared to all loan servicers utilizing established common metrics, and on the basis of the capacity of each servicer to process new and existing accounts: Provided further, That for student loan contracts awarded prior to October 1, 2017, the Secretary shall allow student loan borrowers who are consolidating Federal student loans to select from any student loan servicer to service their new consolidated student loan: Provided further, That in order to promote accountability and high-quality service to borrowers, the Secretary shall not award funding for any contract solicitation for a new Federal student loan servicing environment, including the solicitation for the Federal Student Aid (FSA) Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment, unless such an environment provides for the participation of multiple student loan servicers that contract directly with the Department of Education to manage a unique portfolio of borrower accounts and the full life-cycle of loans from disbursement to pay-off with certain limited exceptions, and allocates student loan borrower accounts to eligible student loan servicers based on performance: Provided further, That the Department shall re-allocate accounts from servicers for recurring non-compliance with FSA guidelines, contractual requirements, and applicable laws, including for failure to sufficiently inform borrowers of available repayment options: Provided further, That such servicers shall be evaluated based on their ability to meet contract requirements (including an understanding of Federal and State law), future performance on the contracts, and history of compliance with applicable consumer protections laws: Provided further, That to the extent FSA permits student loan servicing subcontracting, FSA shall hold prime contractors accountable for meeting the requirements of the contract, and the performance and expectations of subcontractors shall be accounted for in the prime contract and in the overall performance of the prime contractor: Provided further, That FSA shall ensure that the Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment, or any new Federal loan servicing environment, incentivize more support to borrowers at risk of delinquency or default: Provided further, That FSA shall ensure that in such environment contractors have the capacity to meet and are held accountable for performance on service levels; are held accountable for and have a history of compliance with applicable consumer protection laws; and have relevant experience and demonstrated effectiveness: Provided further, That the Secretary shall provide 136 STAT. 4894 quarterly briefings to the Committees on Appropriations and Education and Labor of the House of Representatives and the Committees on Appropriations and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate on general progress related to solicitations for Federal student loan servicing contracts: Provided further, That FSA shall strengthen transparency through expanded publication of aggregate data on student loan and servicer performance: Provided further, That not later than 60 days after enactment of this Act, FSA shall provide to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate a detailed spend plan of anticipated uses of funds made available in this account for fiscal year 2023 and provide quarterly updates on this plan (including contracts awarded, change orders, bonuses paid to staff, reorganization costs, and any other activity carried out using amounts provided under this heading for fiscal year 2023): Provided further, That the FSA Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment, or any new Federal student loan servicing environment, shall include accountability measures that account for the performance of the portfolio and contractor compliance with FSA guidelines: Provided further, That notwithstanding the requirements of the Federal Property and Administration Services Act of 1949, 41 U.S.C. 3101 et seq., as amended; parts 6, 16, and 37 of title 48, Code of Federal Regulations; or any other procurement limitation on the period of performance, the Secretary may extend the period of performance for any contract under section 456 of the HEA for servicing activities for up to one year from the current date of expiration.